1964 Thunderbird carburetor advise

kees

kees

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Jul 5, 2019
Thunderbird Year
1964
The Autolite carburetor is leaking fuel from the accelerator pump. Carburetor should probably be overhauled. I have pretty fair automotive mechanical experience, but have never overhauled one of these 4 barrels. What is difficulty level to overhaul ? Or buy an exchange rebuilt ? Any recommendation for reliable source of rebuilt would also be helpful. Thanks.
 

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kees said:
The Autolite carburetor is leaking fuel from the accelerator pump. Carburetor should probably be overhauled. I have pretty fair automotive mechanical experience, but have never overhauled one of these 4 barrels. What is difficulty level to overhaul ? Or buy an exchange rebuilt ? Any recommendation for reliable source of rebuilt would also be helpful. Thanks.
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kees said:
The Autolite carburetor is leaking fuel from the accelerator pump. Carburetor should probably be overhauled. I have pretty fair automotive mechanical experience, but have never overhauled one of these 4 barrels. What is difficulty level to overhaul ? Or buy an exchange rebuilt ? Any recommendation for reliable source of rebuilt would also be helpful. Thanks.
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Irebuilt the Autolite on my 66 Mustang. I bought a copy of the specific Ford Shop Manual for the Mustang and it had a great section on rebuilding the carb. The carb came out great. I would also recomend U TUBE. It was not difficult.
 
Yes quite straight forward to do, bought a rebuild kit. Used carb clearner spray and an airline. Not sure how some people get the body of the carb to look like new - obviously doesn't matter but presume there are some good alloy clearners about.
 
Once the parts are cleaned as best you can get them with a cleaner I believe some of the Rebuilders use a glass bead to get the outside surface looking new. If you do glass bead or walnut shell bead the outside services it should go without saying that you want to be real careful to make sure that you've re-cleaned all of the internal passages.
 
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I need to replace the carb on my father-in-laws '64 T-bird. Should I stay stock or go to a Holley 600? If I choose the latter, does the T-bird require the vacuum secondaries or mechanical? I'm pretty sure it uses an electrical choke. Please advise. I can't get to the car for a few weeks...
 
The existing Autolite 4100 (assuming it hasn't been changed) is a square bore electric choke with vacuum secondaries. Be sure not to grab a spread bore. I have a friend who just put a Holley Street Demon 650 on his and absolutely LOVES it, was pretty cheap brand-new and cant believe what a difference it made. I have a Street Avenger 770 but I changed alot of the top of the motor including intake to handle the higher flow.
 
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qtband said:
I need to replace the carb on my father-in-laws '64 T-bird. Should I stay stock or go to a Holley 600? If I choose the latter, does the T-bird require the vacuum secondaries or mechanical? I'm pretty sure it uses an electrical choke. Please advise. I can't get to the car for a few weeks...
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i usually replace with holley 600 with electric choke. easy with only minor mod to fuel line going into carb
 
Anything reasonably sized with a square bore should slap on pretty easily. I like the Street Demon 1901 because a buddy said it needed almost no adjustments, worked great out of the box and having driven in the car a few times it is certainly much faster, far quicker throttle response too. And I misspoke; the carb is rated 625cfm and per Rob it cost him a little over https://amzn.to/2O6jzGF$300 brand new in the box, with free shipping from Amazon.

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DannyInNJ said:
Anything reasonably sized with a square bore should slap on pretty easily. I like the Street Demon because a buddy said it needed almost no adjustments, worked great out of the box and having driven in the car a few times it is certainly much faster, far quicker throttle response too. And I misspoke; the carb is rated 625cfm and per Rob it cost him a little over $300 brand new in the box, with free shipping from Amazon.
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Are you talking about this: https://amzn.to/2O6jzGF
 
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kees said:
The Autolite carburetor is leaking fuel from the accelerator pump. Carburetor should probably be overhauled. I have pretty fair automotive mechanical experience, but have never overhauled one of these 4 barrels. What is difficulty level to overhaul ? Or buy an exchange rebuilt ? Any recommendation for reliable source of rebuilt would also be helpful. Thanks.
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about 3\5 job on scale one to ten I'm running Rochester quad on mine. Can find used goofiness for under 100 bucks
 
I sent my my carb. to National Carb. in Jacksonville ,Fl. They did an excellent job. When I got it back I put it on and never touch any adj. It was worth the $275.00
 
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Hey projo198, that's four barrel, right? What cfm and is it vacuum or mechanical secondaries?
 
It is a 4 barrel. Mine is a holley 625, that is what they recommended for the 390 motor when I called. And the secondaries are mechanical.

They are VERY affordable on Amazon too. If you get one make sure to also order the Ford kick-down perch attachment, it's only about 20 bucks but you'll need it if your car has that feature.

I have a project thread going here if you want to see some pics and video of it in action!
 
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projo198 said:
It is a 4 barrel. Mine is a holley 625, that is what they recommended for the 390 motor when I called. And the secondaries are mechanical.

They are VERY affordable on Amazon too. If you get one make sure to also order the Ford kick-down perch attachment, it's only about 20 bucks but you'll need it if your car has that feature.

I have a project thread going here if you want to see some pics and video of it in action!
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I swapped out my Autolight 1400, 18 years ago when it crapped out while on Route 66 and was stuck, I ended up with a Holley double pumper "Road Avenger" 670 CFM. It made a hugh difference in power and performance.....no regrets. It's still operating great today.
 
DannyInNJ said:
Anything reasonably sized with a square bore should slap on pretty easily. I like the Street Demon 1901 because a buddy said it needed almost no adjustments, worked great out of the box and having driven in the car a few times it is certainly much faster, far quicker throttle response too. And I misspoke; the carb is rated 625cfm and per Rob it cost him a little over https://amzn.to/2O6jzGF$300 brand new in the box, with free shipping from Amazon.

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Careful..........Demons are Spread Bores
 
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